Georgia

Connected to Georgia

At Bank of America, we're committed to helping grow local economies and strengthen the communities we serve. By combining local support and expertise with our national reach, we're connecting customers and communities across the country to the resources they need to thrive.

eastlakevillagedefaultPlayertrueblack/assets/images/partnering-locally/articles/eastlake-village_082812_878x494.jpg|A woman and student working on a computer at the Charles R. Drew Charter School |A Historic Atlanta Golf Course Promotes a Community's Upswing ||

V/O(Lillian Giornelli): East Lake was one of the original suburbs of Atlanta; and was one of the first golf course communities in Atlanta. In fact it is the home of Bobby Jones, who, was one of the great amateur athletes ever. It’d fallen into disrepair. In 1995, the employment rate was thirteen percent.

SUPER: LILLIAN GIORNELLI, Board Chairman, East Lake Foundation

Lillian Giornelli: The average age of a grandmother in this community was thirty years old. There was a school on campus. Only five percent of the fifth graders could actually meet state standards.

SUPER: CHERYL LOMAX, Market Manager, Bank of America

Cheryl Lomax: East Lake Golf Course, had become part of a dilapidated community. Tom Cousins vision was that if he could transform that golf course, which could then be a engine for driving revenue into this community, then he could begin to change things.

Lillian Giornelli: The first step was redevelopment. We tore down the East Lake Meadows, we rebuilt this beautiful housing complex. The East Lake Foundation was created to focus on community redevelopment. One of the partnerships that was created was with the Atlanta public school system and we opened Drew Charter School.

SUPER: ABIGAIL SIMMONS, Graduate, Drew Charter School

Abigail Simmons: When we come out of eighth grade we’re ready for high school and actually looking forward to college.

V/O(Lillian Giornelli): Today, ninety-eight percent of our students meet or exceed state standards. It’s a wild success. It was very important to us that we continued to support those students, as they move out into the high school programs. So we began a program called CREW Teens.

SUPER: JANA BRODIE, Director of CREW Teens

Jana Brodie: We really focus on college readiness, focus on life skills and professional development…

SUPER: QUARTEZ LITTLE, Former CREW Teens Member

Quartez Little: I don’t have many distractions because, I’m always doing something. So I think CREW Teens will keep me on track.

Lillian Giornelli: Living in the village is there as a work requirement so all the residents in the villages either need to be working towards work, or working. In that work force development program, we focus on developing the skill sets that actually make you marketable.

SUPER: CENOBIA HILTON, Resident, East Lake Village

Cenobia Hilton: I needed a new resume. So I came to one of the workshops, they helped me with my resume, they helped me with the interviewing parts…

Lillian Giornelli: The employment rate in the community is now ninety-five percent. Bank of America has been here since the beginning. They were the original financial partner in the redevelopment of the East Lake Villages..

Cheryl Lomax: Bank of America does much more than just write a check to the East Lake Foundation. What we do, is that we make sure that our community volunteers are in full force here at East Lake.

Lillian Giornelli: Bank of America employees do a one-month program, in the fall around financial literacy. They volunteer in our work force development program. They work with our high school students and their parents to fill out forms for financial aid and college applications.

Cheryl Lomax: Changing the cycle of poverty is one of the most important things that you can do to transform a community. And we put our dollars and our resources behind making sure that this community will continue to thrive.

Lillian Giornelli: If we can change the outcome for families in this community, then there’s no community that can’t be fixed.

BANK OF AMERICA RTP- ATLANTA-SALON MARSOF- As Produced Video Transcript

SUPER: Maria Poulos, Owner, Salon Marsof

Maria Poulos: I grew up in this industry. I grew up doing hair. I was a little kid, right underneath my mom.

SUPER: Sophia Poulos, Owner, Salon Marsof

Sophia Poulos: If I would want somebody to wash somebody’s hair, she was washing hair. So she was always involved. I thought that, all my life that, one of these days she’s going to become a hairstylist.

V/O(Maria Poulos) : Honestly, if it wasn’t for my mom, opening a salon, I wouldn’t do hair. If I couldn’t do it with her, I wouldn’t have done it.

V/O(Sophia Poulos) : If it was not me she would not have a hair salon, if it was not her I probably won’t have a hair salon. Because, it’s not just to know how to do hair, it’s how to run the business.

Maria Poulos: Financially, it was really hard. But we did everything really slowly and everything in here, we did ourselves. I love the area, I mean, if you look around it’s just a cute, little, upcoming town. The people here are great. Polite, sweet, just down-to earth.

Sophia Poulos: We have, people say that this place is very homey, and they feel comfortable coming in.

Maria Poulos: Everybody who I meet, I’ve built a great relationship with them. And it’s not just the hair part. But my clients have become my friends.

V/O(Sophia Poulos) : Some of them have come to my daughter’s wedding, you know, my kids’ baptisms.

SUPER: Shamonda Gilbert, Small Business Banking, Bank of America

Shamonda Gilbert: Every time I come in here I stop in and I visit just to check on them, the clients are laughing. It’s just more of a friendship-type feel here.

Maria Poulos: Shamonda, just walked in here one day, and introduced herself. Really polite. And she told me about Bank of America and what they were offering. The first question I asked was, next day deposit.

V/O(Shamonda Gilbert) : Before she wasn’t getting next-day funding. Not only could we give her next-day funding, we will take care of her payroll taxes through our payroll services.

V/O(Maria Poulos) :Shamonda’s been great. Any questions that I had or I was confused about, she was just there to answer every question that I needed.

V/O(Shamonda Gilbert) : We’re to to let you know, we can take care of your personal needs. That’s why we come, we knock on your doors, we introduce ourselves to you. We get to know who you are. Individuals or business owners and consumers. They know who their doctor is, they know who their accountant is- but they never know who their banker is. The banker handles your finances. So that’s the main person that you should know. You should know who that person is. So that’s very important.

Maria Poulos: She’s not just my banker to help me with my account. She’s my friend.

Shamonda Gilbert: She thinks big. She’s in a small community but she thinks big. And she really takes pride in what she does. She’s gonna be successful because her vision is a big vision.

V/O(Maria Poulos) : I can’t imagine doing anything else. So I mean, it’s the love that I get from my clients. The love that I have for my mom. Like this is like a team thing. It’s like a puzzle. Everything has just been falling into place.

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